She was hurt beyond belief. Her brother was lying. "We had plans to come here and he said he told you all."
"You left that up to the teenager?"
Suddenly there was a loud crash. It sounded like a stampede in the weight room complete with the noises of breaking glass. The mirrors were being shattered. The Knights’ Disciples flew down the lower level to address what turned out to be Lucas and another kid. This time Lucas has the upper hand, literally, and was holding a shard of broken mirror. He had the room paralyzed, hoping that if they were still, he would be still.
"Lucas," Laura scolded. Her stomach was in knots. Will just glared at the boy and it was enough to have him release his opponent. Pete and Darren held Lucas and disarmed him.
"I had to show him he couldn't push me around," Lucas offered.
The gym was a disaster. In minutes the air was filled with sirens. The cops had arrived. And so had the director of the club. She was speechless. She faulted Laura with not having good judgment to stay away given the circumstances and basically said she invited the trouble to the club. She barred Lucas and her from volunteering. They were dismissed.
Will stepped up and offered to cover the cost of the damage and he said he and his men would have the place restored by the morning.
"Impossible," said the director.
"Watch us," said Will.
"In that case, I accept," said the director. "By the crack of dawn, this place better be put back together or I may level criminal charges against you."
CHAPTER NINE
Laura was without words. The emotion that rested in her body tangled her tongue. She knew that Lucas was no more than the average teenager but, at the moment, she was destroyed by his behavior. She really didn't like him at the moment. She wasn't even sure that she liked the director's decision to not press charges against the teens even though, by all accounts, the other kid started it. The cops agreed with Laura, but if the Knights’ Disciples could fix the place like they said and they could keep the controversy to a minimum, that was how the director wanted it.
Laura stood by quietly as Will read Lucas the riot act. "We had a date with a detective," he began.
"This was something I had to take care of. They were calling me a bitch and I had to show them," Lucas replied with no remorse.
"So while you were talking to me and talking to your sister who lives and dies by you, in case you hadn't noticed, you were lying," said Will.
"I had to do what I had to do," said Lucas.
"So do I and so does your sister, but we don't tend to use people to do it. That would be a hint and half for your ass that you're doing the wrong thing," said Will.
"Man, don't talk to me like you're all cool and shit," said Lucas. He affected a street accent that sounded just like that the M.O.P.H. gang members had.
"Laura, I apologize for interfering. Clearly this young man doesn't need his fellow man. I suggest you send him back to public school and let him handle things." Will unlocked Laura's car and when Lucas started to get in, Will stopped him. "Where do you think you're going?" Will asked.
"I am going to be with my sister," he said.
"Oh no. You're staying here to help us clean up this mess. She is going home with some of the guys," said Will.
"But the other guy doesn't have to help!" protested Lucas. "And he started it."
"Did you two arrange to meet here to fight it out?" Will demanded vehemently.
"Yes," Lucas replied.
"Well then you both started it. I can't make him stay, but if I could, I would. I can make you stay. You can go your own way after that, but you're pulling an all-nighter like the rest of us."
"I'll stay," Laura volunteered
"No," Will said shortly. "You go home. Get into bed. Besides, I don't think the director wants the both of you here, no offense."
Something in the way he looked at her, so directly - his eyes were so searing – made her shiver. Even in the heat of a tense moment where Will was annoyed with her, she found his look erotic. Her breathing picked up and she could hardly hear.
She didn't argue with him. She left her brother with the Knights’ Disciples. She realized Will was more effective and less partial than her. And making Lucas responsible for his behavior was a good move. Plus she needed to go home alone. She had almost no time to herself ever in the years since her parents died when she wasn't working or taking care of her young brother.
She rode shotgun as Pete and one other Knights’ Disciples drove her car to Will's. Before pulling away, Will tapped his ring against her window so she would lower it. She did so expecting him to lecture her, too, and she was right.
"I didn't want to say this in front of the boy, but I am bummed you didn't check in with me before acting on coming over here. I wished you had trusted me."
"Well just let me go back in time to make the right decision!" she snapped. "It wasn't like that," she put her face in her hands trying to push back the sobs. "I didn't think it would be that big a deal. I just wanted a little bit of normal. Is that so wrong?"
Laura was overwhelmed with how badly everything went. And she hated that she was at odds with Will all of a sudden. He looked so hurt by her short remark, but he kind of deserved her scolding her like that. "We do appreciate everything you've done. Everything you're about to do. We just made a mistake. We got a little ahead of ourselves; that's all."
He lifted her head so he could look at her, study her. He stood silent outside the car. Laura was emotional at the anticipation that he might tell her he was through with her, with both of them. Instead he reached in, cupped her hair and kissed her fully in front of his guys, in front of Lucas. When he broke the kiss he promised, "It's going to be okay."
No one said a word beyond that driving to Will's. The ride was silent, on the outside. Laura's head was filled with noise. She couldn't sort all the choices she had made for her kid brother just now.
She took a deep breath and decided to lose herself in a torrid fantasy about Will instead. He might have been a Knights’ Disciple who rode a motorcycle but to her, his club was appropriately named. Will and the club members were real-life knights, handsome, rugged, romantic, and caring. No one complained when they were pulled from their own comfort to babysit Laura and Lucas through this nonsense, and they didn’t complain even now that Lucas was behaving badly.
CHAPTER TEN
Will’s house was unbelievably empty without him there. She and the guys went their separate ways. She skipped dinner. She took a quick bath and crawled into bed.
Even though it was a guest bed, it still smelled like Will. Her thoughts came back to the director and they stung. She was banned from volunteering. Her relationship with the community work was more than just a way to get a degree; she loved it. And now that, and maybe so much more, was lost. Laura curled up around the pillows, tucked herself in with blankets, and pretended she was soothing herself by hugging Will instead of bedding. He certainly made a wonderful home. For a motorcycle club captain, he was very domestic. In all the drama and getting caught up in Lucas's cause, it occurred to Laura that she really didn't know how Will made his living. Now with all that happened, she wondered if she would find out. She sank into a deep sleep.
And woke so sweetly. In the very early morning, before dawn broke, Will and the other guys came home. Laura stirred as she heard them bidding each other a groggy goodnight as they walked into the house. She could hear the locks of the front door turn. Someone was locking up. She heard Will climb the stairs with heavy footsteps. His room was past hers. The bathroom she used separated them. She was now fully awake and stared at the grey ceiling as a motion light shined through her window. It would probably go out shortly. She turned over on her side away from it and accidentally bumped her head on the head board.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed.
Naturally, Will knocked on the door reflexively before entering her room. "You okay?"
"Yeah I am. Sorry," she said. "I guess I must have moved up to the he
ad of the bed while I was asleep. I hit my head."
"Let's have a look," he said.
"It's okay. Really," she replied, though it was beginning to throb. Will flipped on the light and lightly traced her forehead with his fingers. Despite his tender touch, the tips of his fingers felt rough and smelled faintly of solvent. It really hit home how hard he had been working, all night, up since the day before so that the Girls and Boy Club could operate without missing a beat and so that the damage her brother did was a minimum. He smiled as though he were trying to hold back a laugh. "What?" she asked vulnerably.
"Not laughing at you, sweetheart. We finished before schedule and we thought that since the director was being a jerk in letting you go since you clearly had nothing to do with what happened, we should phone her when we were done."
Laura gasped. "You called her at three-thirty in the morning?"
Will was laughing harder now. He could only nod. Laura waited for him to finish. "And because she was half asleep, I said, ‘hey since we finished ahead of schedule, do you think you could see your way clear to letting Laura Mills keep her position?’ She said 'yes yes, whatever. I have to go to sleep' and she hung up the phone."
Laura didn't get her hopes up. "She'll take it back in the morning. That was a sweet thought and I really don't deserve it, but thanks."
Will lifted her chin with his finger so she had to look in his eyes. He spoke to her gently. "I know it's hard not to take any of this personally, but it's not personal. Whatever your brother is going through, it's not at you or because of you. The guys are here for you two. We will help see you through as long as Lucas will let us. After that, it's up to him." He raked his fingers through her hair again and again. The movement sent heat throughout her body. "Hey," he whispered. "I'm going to hop in the shower. If you want to warm up my bed and wait for me until I get out, I would really like that. I don't mean sex...necessarily. I would really like to lie in a bed and just hold you."
They moved their faces closer until their searching mouths found each other. His lips were so soft and warm and the taste of him, when he parted her lips and entered her with his tongue, was unbearably sweet. She drew on him, stroking him inside with playful sweeps, as she kissed him hungrily. His gentle hold on her hair became a passionate grip. He almost tugged as he now fisted her strands at the nape of her neck. He broke away. "We better stop while I can. Wait for me," he whispered.
He walked slowly from her bed as if to lead her. Laura threw off her covers and followed him. The morning was still shadowy and their steps so quiet. She was tempted to go in the shower with him, but she let him have his privacy and she hers.
She luxuriated in the great expanse of his bed, so lush and cozy. She stretched across it while she heard the water of the shower roar. Her hands glided the wonderful contours of her body. She really liked her body. Nature had been very nice to her. She was wearing a boxer and T-shirt set. She pushed down the waist of her shorts and hiked up the hem of her T. She cupped the lower curves of her breasts. They were so full and supple and perfect. She kneaded them and played with her nipples. She rolled their soft flesh between her fingers till they were hard. She teased them by grazing their tips with her fingertips and squirmed in the tantalizing electricity that corded to her center.
Laura's hand went right between her legs. She dipped her finger into the wetness that was already there, and lubricated her clitoris, agitating it deliciously. Impulsively she wanted to pleasure herself fully, quickly, knowing that when he got inside her, even though he said he just wanted to cuddle, the friction would be amazing. Her body would be so alive, so stimulated, and each of his strokes, moving in and out . . . and in and out would be a wondrous sensation. Laura lapsed in and out of an erotic high now, the room hazy and surreal as she sprawled atop Will's mattress when he came out of the shower.
He was half swaddled in a giant towel, his body dewy from bathing. He was toweling the dark strands of his hair. He hadn't shaved, so his jaw was deck in rich new beard. He stopped to behold Laura, writhing with need in his bed. He prowled, stalking her body like a giant cat, and crawled over her. Their bodies were going in different directions.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
"Is there something I can do for you?" he asked seductively. He bent to her and kissed her slowly. Laura nodded underneath him. That was all that he needed to do more than just cuddle. He trailed his kisses down her neck, to her chest, and between her breasts. He stuck out his wet, hot tongue and heated the pointy tips of her nipples, suckling them, drawing them gently. He continued down the middle of her torso, to the ticklish plane of her belly and beyond. His tongue was scalding on her aroused clit, which was already slick from Laura's self-play.
"Oh God," he murmured when he tasted her and lapsed into a tonguing frenzy, penetrating her, mating her with all of his mouth. His working her pleasure-sensitive flesh promised to bring her to imminent orgasm. He pressed his powerful hands on her belly to steady her as he gently made her accept his attention.
The gentle domination was an erotic elixir for Laura. As someone who shouldered a lot of responsibility alone, she often fantasized about being moderately dominated and cared for, much in the way Will had done for her. She tilted up her pelvis to offer herself more to him. The motion caused her muscles to contract, creating the extra stimulation to push her into that descent, that tumble into complete rapture. Laura lay stunned, racked with endless waves of pleasure as Will took hold of her thighs and entered her.
He lightly brushed her sex with his fingers, sweetly maximizing her ecstasy as he drove into her. He was standing and she was flat on her back, she wrapped her legs around his hips, pressing him into her as deeply as he could go. Wantonly, she jutted up and down, working her hips lasciviously for his visual and physical pleasure. She cupped her breasts and played with them while he watched. He craned his neck upward as his orgasm hit. She coaxed him to roll onto the bed and under her while she rode him through the climax.
Now he was stunned by the cresting pleasure while she gently moved on top of him to give him continual aftershocks. Finally he pulled her to him and kissed her tenderly. They both flopped against the mattress, wonderfully spent.
“I’m surprised you didn’t just come in and hit the sack,” she said to him finally. His energy after working through the night was incredible to say the least.
He lifted an eyelid, definitely on his way to sleep, to regard her. “Well, that was kind of the plan until I saw you.” He reached over and stroked the curves of her buttocks. “I just had to.”
“It does always seem to be a great idea,” she replied. Will burst out with a laugh so loud it echoed throughout the house. She reached over and cupped his mouth. “I think you’re going to have to explain you laughing at four A.M. to your friends,” she counseled.
He turned to her. “I think I would like that just fine if you wouldn’t mind. How would you feel about it if there was an ‘us’ to explain?”
That was a pretty good question. Most of her wanted it if things were more than they were, but she just chalked that up to impatience. Now that he said it outright that he wanted that, too, she wasn’t so sure. Maybe it was a little soon? She was embarrassed about her hesitation; she just slept with the man. She played clueless. “By ‘us’ you mean?” she knitted her brow.
He pulled her in close to him. “I mean I like you,” he said sincerely.
That was sincere and simple. She could do that. “I like you, too.”
“So I don’t want to hide that or pretend that I don’t,” he said. There was no fooling him. She was still putting up fences. “Is there a problem with that? Do you not feel the same way?”
She had to think about that. Of course she felt the same way. She thought the guy was terrific. So what was the problem? And when the answer came to her, she had to laugh. “Okay now I am going to wake up the whole house. The problem is,” she took a deep breath, “that I’ve never been in this spot before and so I am not sure what the right thing to
do is.’
“What spot would that be?” Will asked half-jokingly. “Where you’re hiding out in someone’s house because a gang is after your brother?”
“No, silly,” she corrected him. “I mean that I’ve never been in a spot where I had to break it to people that someone liked me.”
“Well when was the last time you had a boyfriend?” he asked.
Laura blushed. The answer was kind of embarrassing. “Maybe when Lucas was little, before my parents passed. He was born when I was in high school and –”
Will finished the sentence for her. “You just helped out a lot with him and never really had a time for a guy yourself.”
He pretty much guessed it. “Yes, sort of. I mean my mother wasn’t old, really, but there is a big difference between being sleep-deprived when you’re twenty something versus when you’re forty something. Or so she said,” said Laura.
Disciple: Knights Disciples MC Page 4